Here is a list
of some essential web based resources I have found invaluable.
Despite its name, this site offers a vast collection of media across all genres and also has Movies and Music in the member’s area. There is a large collection of mystery plays but a lot more is available to members of the site. The really good news is that membership is free for blind and visually impaired users of the site. Simply send an email to the site owner and he will send you a login name and password. This site seems to be excellent and I decided to donate to it anyway.
Click here to enter the Old Time Mystery Theatre site
Another
site hosting MP3 files of classic American Radio shows. I picked this one up
from a post by Linda
Voson the Victor Reader Stream list. It seems pretty good though one poster
reports he cannot find links. It works fine for me with Jaws, however. Not as great
amount of Free content
when compared to Mystery Theatre.
Click here
to enter the Radio Lovers site
The Seeing Ear library.
This is a library
of electronic text file books free for visually impaired users. You have to
apply to join and provide proof of visual impairment. I did this by emailing
them a scanned copy of my blind registration.
Not an enormous library and tends to concentrate on light reading I
think, books from Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, all the Ian Fleming James
Bond books etc. There is a Ben Elton book on here that I enjoyed reading.
Useful if you want access to a book immediately. No download limit as far as I
can see.
Click
here to entre the Seeing Ear Library
Back to Top
Dozens of free
Audio Described Movies in MP3 format for people with visual impairment. . Their
link takes you to a send space page where you can download the film. The
download is slow and you can only do one at a time. There is a daily 1 GB limit but as the films
are between 50 - 130 mb each you can get quite a few films a day.
Click here to enter Blind Mice Movie Page
This Indian
site claims to have thousands of free E Books. I have downloaded some without
problem. You are constantly encouraged to register or sign up for premium
download rights but you really do not
need to worry about this for downloading text books which even on the slow free
service come down in less than a minute. There are a few foibles. The site can
sometimes take a long time to load. If you are finding this it is best to
cancel, wait a minute and then try again.
The method of
listing books is a bit erratic. Basically members post threads which appear at
the bottom of the page. These seem to be organised in a fairly random
fashion. In these threads you will find
download links. This will take you to a page where you have to find a button
called Free Download. I think you have to navigate pass a few more adverts
before you find the actual download link. Some of the books are in Microsoft
Reader Lit format. Rather than get involved with all this I would recommend you
convert the files to rtf format using the Amber Lit converter program. You can
find a link to this on the Essential Productivity software page. Click here
This site is a
bit clunky but free. I provide a link to
a zip file of 3 Umberto Ecco books downloaded from this site below. Although
the books war in Microsoft Reader Lit format I converted them to rtf files
using the Amber Lit converter.
Click
here to download the Umberto Ecco books in zip format
Click here to enter the Indian Masala Free
E Book site
This is a site for downloading free EBooks from 1930 to the present day. The site owner restricts books “borrowed” from the library to 5 books in a 2 week period the site owner request voluntary donations. He reports having 1500 books on the site.
This
is a UK site designed for people with visual impairment that is packed with
features. The site works by running its own speech output and you select
features simply by typing a number from the keyboard. The only problem is that this may conflict
with some screen readers such as Jaws which grab these keys as quick header
navigation keys. . You can either turn your screen reader off or use a by pass
key command to execute the number selections. In Jaws for example you will have
to press insert plus 3 as a bypass command before typing a number.
From
the home page pressing 1 will enter you into the Games Room with accessible
puzzles and so on.
Pressing 2 will enter you into the poetry online
section.
Pressing
3 will enter you into a page with a variety of radio stations which are in turn
launched by pressing a number. There are some good spoken word options here.
Pressing
4 will enter you into a page with audio books.
Pressing
5 will enter you into a selection of classic audio described movies.
Pressing
6 will enter you into Online Magazines
Pressing
7 will enter you into a sports section.
Pressing
8 will enter you into an interactive story telling section aimed at children.
Click
here to enter the Audio Network
Free
and relatively straightforward virtual Juke box which will play songs from
different decades from the 50s to the 90s.This site is not intended to provide extensive
choice. It is rather like a Juke box in fact with a selection of hits from
various periods. I think there is something like a hundred tracks for each
decade. Very robust as far as I can see and you do not have to jump through as
many advertising hoops. You will need Adobe Flash Player installed to use this
site but if you can play You Tube videos you already have this.
This
site is getting a little dated but there are still some excellent material on
this site for both software and hardware.
Click
here to enter free Guides for Visually Impaired People.
Published
by the American foundation for the Blind this monthly magazine has really
valuable reviews and insightful articles. Recommended.
Click here
to enter the Access World Online Magazine
A
site stacked with streaming music. Simply navigate to a chart of your choice
and you can simply play the music in your browser.
Click here to
enter the Radio.com website.
This is a
fantastic Aladdin's cave of Jaws resources. You can also join the excellent
jaws User and Blind Computing mailing lists. The page has links to a programs
page with hundreds of free programs to work with Jaws, there is an audio
tutorial training page, tips and tricks as well as scripts for different
programs to work with Jaws. Even if you do not use Jaws you will probably find
something useful here especially amongst the free programs which are likely to
work for example with Window Eyes. There is also a section called Blind
Handyman with tips for DIY.
Click here to
enter the Jaws User Home Page
Another
excellent site with loads of resources, including information on computer
hardware, Braille, audio tutorials, useful free programs and more.
Click
here to enter the Blind Computing Web Site
This
is a web page hosting loads of podcasts. Some are really helpful and useful. Others
are frankly dire and embarrassing. You have to search through and find the gold
nuggets of which there are plenty. I strongly suggest that you use accelerated
playback on some of these podcasts as some presenters take an age to get to the
point.
Click
here to enter Blind Cool tech
This
is a blogging site which can be fascinating and then rubbish depending on the
quality of the blogger. I have found some interesting stuff here though. Some
contributors do not worry about controversy.
Click here to
enter Blind Confidential.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, 13 May 2009